August is sure to bring a lot of smiles to 100 Mile House, as the South Cariboo Summer Festival will be coming to town on Aug. 10 and 11 at the South Cariboo Rec. Centre.
One interesting attraction is the Williams Lake Schutzhund Group Demonstration, which will be held in the Agriplex from 2:45 to 4:15 p.m.
“We’re going to be doing a demonstration of obedience and a demonstration of Shutzhund protection, as in like what you see what the police dogs do when you have a sleeve on your arm and the dog comes and bites on the sleeve,” said Bob Allen, a member of the Williams Lake Schutzhund Group. “We will also be doing a demonstration of a purse snatch and taking down the perpetrator.”
Allen said attendees might find it fascinating how much control they have over the dogs. He said that the dogs don’t just come in and bite the sleeve, they only bite when they are allowed to. When they are told to stop biting, they immediately do so.
“Last year, we did it in the arena and people came up to us afterwards and said they saw the police dogs do that and we had way more control and obedience on our dogs than the police did,” he said.
Most likely six dogs will be at the demonstration, but only one dog will be on the field at a time during the protection portion of the presentation, as it could cause temptation for the other dogs to join in.
However, they may even bring some of the younger dogs, according to Allen. He said that after the demonstration, they may bring in some of the younger ones to demonstrate how they raise them up to the stage where they can perform demonstrations.
Other events and features set to return to the festival this year are the Show and Shine, Uncle Chris the Clown, lawnmower races, the Maverick Farms petting zoo and pony ride, Big Horn Archery Club’s demonstration, belly dancers and the indoor trade show market.
The entertainment will be Kamloops-based Madison Olds and the Kordaroy First Nations Band. The Canim Lake Band dancers and Dutch Courage will also be returning.
Olds performs multiple genres, such as pop, folk-pop and indie. Olds has also won the Emerging Artist of the Year award from the City of Kamloops in 2017, and has opened for Kacey Musgraves and Willie Nelson. Her debut album, Blue, was released on Feb. 22, 2019, by Luna Bean Records.